Guizhou will build a number of characteristic small towns to promote the integrated development of urban and rural areas, according to the Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the High-quality Development of Characteristic Small Towns issued by its provincial government office recently.

Aerial photo shows the view of Qingyan ancient town in Guiyang, capital city of Guizhou province. [Photo/chinanews.com]

The document points out that the high quality development of characteristic small towns will combine with the development of characteristic industries. A variety of towns, including industrial towns, agricultural towns, tourism towns, and commercial towns, will be built relying on local pillar industries to maintain sustainable development.

Focusing on improving supporting functions to improve residents' quality of life, the province will speed up the infrastructure construction of roads, water supply, power supply, parking lots, and major public places of theses characteristic small towns. The province will also improve the construction of public service facilities including boarding schools, medical and health institutions, community service centers, elderly service institutions, as well as sports facilities. According to the document, the popularization rate of centralized supplying water in characteristic small towns will reach 85 percent by the end of 2020.

The scenery of Shexiang ancient town in Bijie, Guizhou province. [Photo/chinanews.com]

Additionally, the province will improve the living environment of characteristic small towns. By the end of 2020, all towns will achieve full coverage of domestic sewage and garbage treatment facilities, with the domestic sewage treatment rate of 50 percent and the domestic garbage disposal rate of 70 percent.

The document explicitly indicates that the construction of characteristic small towns will be started by the end of 2019. A total of 100 provincial characteristic small towns will be built to drive the high-quality development of more than 1,000 such towns in Guizhou. By 2022, the province's urban population will increase by 1.2 million, with the urbanization rate rising at least by 3 percentage points.

Zhao Yandi contributed to this story